Hand-in-hand, the parents of the 26-year-old woman who was stabbed to death at her workplace last week made their way to the front of the church towards the end of her funeral Mass today to pay a heartbroken but loving tribute to their daughter.
Tears flowed in the packed St Eoghan’s Church in Kilmoganny, Co Kilkenny, as Margo Moran, supported by her husband Pete, fondly remembered her daughter Mairéad’s all-too-short life and spoke of how much the popular young woman was loved.
“Mairead was happy, smiling, loyal, an independent woman, loving her job, building her future,” Mrs Moran said as the hundreds inside the church and hundreds more outside listened on in silence.
“As she said herself, ‘you know me Mam, just getting on with my life’. We are so glad she did. It was too short… Mairead you were loved so much, Keep on smiling on us all, we need it,” she finished, her voice crackling with grief.
Minutes later, the coffin bearing the remains of Mairéad Moran was carried outside into the heart of the village of Kilmoganny. Within yards of the grocery shop owned by her parents, the coffin was placed inside the hearse which took her on her last journey, the short distance to Kilmoganny Cemetery.
The assistant manager at the Holland and Barrett health shop in Kilkenny city’s Market Cross shopping centre was fatally stabbed last Thursday night.
Her mother remembered a daughter who was “born to be loved” and was looked on as “our baby”, as well as being younger sister to Collette and Michelle.
Her interests included her love of cats, which often involved her convincing her parents that strays she found “really needed a home on our side of the road” and would eventually end up in their house, despite Mairéad’s assurances that they would be kept outside.
She had also enjoyed carpentry projects with friends, her Sylvanian Families collection “still stashed safely in our attic”, and was devoted to Harry Potter, a love which took her to Dublin to queue overnight for the books when they were first published and to Scotland to visit the set of one of the movies.
Her interests were developed “with commitment and enthusiasm” throughout her life.
“Mairead’s greatest talent was in making and keeping loyal friends, her circle ever-expanding. We often teased her on her ability to summon a crowd at a moment’s notice. These last few days she has surpassed herself,” Margo Moran said.
“We can never thank enough everyone for the support they have given, proof that friendship, love, family and community are what make life worthwhile.”
Today’s funeral Mass was concelebrated by six priests, with parish priest Fr Nicholas Flavin the chief celebrant.
In his homily, he said all who were present for the funeral Mass were attempting “to come to terms with something that is unexpected, something that each one of us cannot fully explain”.
Now that Mairéad is gone, left behind are the memories of her life. “It’s in memory that we keep alive what has been there in the past,” Fr Flavin said. “Her spirit will live on, not only now, but into the future.”